COURSE OUTLINE

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL MANAGEMENT & CURRICULUM STUDIES

EFN 204 – SOCIOLOGY OF EDUCATION

Purpose of the Course

To expose the learner to the meaning and scope of sociology and sociology of education with
reference to various sociological perspectives and institutions that are relevant to theories and
practice of education.
Expected Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, the learner should be able to:
i. Examine the school as a social institution.
ii. Analyze the role and function of education as an agent and instrument of social and cultural
change in society.
iii. Evaluate social dynamics, education and national development.
iv. Develop research skills for studies in Sociology of education.
Course Description
The course aims to introduce student teachers to the basic concepts in Sociology and Sociology
of Education, with emphasis on the latter as a distinct discipline. The course will also cover
different sociological theories and their relevance to education. Sociological research methods.
Other major issues to be covered include the socialization process, social organizations, culture
and education, deviance and social control, social mobility, equity, equality and social
disparities.

COURSE OUTLINE
PART I: INTRODUCTION
i. Sociology: Meaning, Scope and Significance.
ii. Sociology of education: Origin, meaning and development.
PART II: SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES AND THEIR RELEVANCE TO
EDUCATION
i. Functionalists perspective
ii. Conflict perspective
iii. Symbolic-Interactionism Perspective

PART II I: EDUCATION AND SOCIALIZATION

i. The social functions of Education
ii. Socialization: Agents
iii. Culture and Education
iv. Education as a Social Institution.
PART IV: SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS
i. The characteristics of a social organization
ii. The school as a community
iii. Functions of Teaching
iv. Teaching Profession
v. Deviance, Delinquency and Education
PART V: CONTEMPORARY ISSUES
Equity, equality, social disparities etc
Mode of Delivery
Lectures, tutorials, group discussions and individual assignments
Instructional Materials & Equipment
Projectors, whiteboard, text books, computers, design software etc.
Course Assessment
Mode of assessment will constitute both formative evaluation (CATs, Assignments, Class
presentations, etc) to cater for 30% and summative evaluation at the end of the semester to be
graded out of 70% adding up to 100%.
Staff Performance
To be based on Self-evaluation, stakeholders’ evaluation and evaluation by Chair of Department.
References
Core texts;
Paleeri, S. (2010). Rudiments of Education: sociology and Philosophy. New Delhi: Neelkamal.
Sharma, R. N. (2011). Philosophy and Sociology of Education. New Delhi: Surjeet
Publications
Sifuna, D. N., F. N. Chege & I. O. Oanda (2006). (Eds). Themes in the study of foundations
of Education. Nairobi: Jomo Kenyatta Foundation
Recommended reading materials;
Ezewu, Edward. (1983). Sociology of Education, London and Lagos: Longman Group.
(Classical).
Heald, R. & Haralombos, M. (1980). Sociology Themes and Perspectives, New York: Oxford
University press. (Classical).
Odetola T. and Adenola 4. (1985). Sociology, An introductory African Texl. Macmillan.
Paleeri, S. (2010). Rudiments of Education: sociology and Philosophy. New Delhi: Neelkamal
Journals
American Sociological review, online 2015; https://journals.sagepub.com/home/asr
British journal of sociology of education, online 2017; https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cbse20
British sociological association, online 2018; https://www.britsoc.co.uk/

Course Lecturers
Prof Fredrick Ogola – 0724472405
Ms Rose Malei
 LECTURE 1
MEANING OF SOCIOLOGY
INTRODUCTION
1.1 INTRODUCTION
In the first lecture of this course, you will learn the meaning of sociology. You will also learn the
origins of sociology as a discipline, what aspects of sociology deal with the society and, finally,
the branches into which sociology is divided.

1.2 OBJECTIVES
At the end of this lecture you should be able to:
1. Define the term sociology
2. Discuss the Origins of Sociology
3. Discern the subject matter of sociology
4. List the branches into which sociology is divided
5. List and explain the main branches of sociology

1.3 DEFINITION OF SOCIOLOGY

The term sociology is defined differently by various authors. It is generally defined as the
science of society. In this definition, sociology is further understood to be a study of social
relationships between individuals in collections or groups. It is, therefore, a study of the various
social interactions, activities, associations, conflicts, roles and other social phenomena in a
society. In general, however, sociology does not specifically study the society. Instead, it
concentrates on the study of social groups which are found in the society, for example the school
groups, church groups, women’s’ groups, professional groups and many others. By first studying
these groups, Sociology ends up understanding the whole society.

1.4 ORIGINS AND USE OF SOCIOLOGY

The word sociology was first used by Augustus Comte (1798-1857). Comte combined the Latin
word “Socius” meaning sharing in a group with the word “logos” meaning science. Comte,
therefore, defined the discipline as the science of society. There are many more definitions of the
term Sociology which look at Sociology as the study of social structures. It must be emphasized
that Sociology does not study an individual person in isolation, but rather individuals in a group
or groups. Sociology also investigates how social relationships arise, develop and how they are
sustained.

Since we have defined Sociology as the science of society, you may ask yourself why the
discipline came into prominence only in the 19 th century. Were there no studies about man in the
society before Comte’s time? The answer to this question is that since the dawn of history,
philosophy, religion and politics, man has always reflected and written on issues relevant to what
we have defined as the science of society. In the 19 th century Europe, however, there were certain
conditions which appeared to give rise to sociology as a distinct discipline. These conditions
were both Intellectual and social.
In the 19th Century, philosophical historians like Karl Marx, Comte, Herbert Spencer and many
others were turning away from ambitious writings about the political society and finding a new
interest in the study of Industrial society. Subjects like the family, the nature of society,
population, social Institutions and development, had suddenly become important Issues in
philosophical writings.

No doubt, interest in Sociology was strongly influenced by such a change. Socially, there was the
recognition that problems such as poverty which became rampant during the industrial revolution
period, were social in nature and not natural. There was also concern about the social order and
how to maintain it especially during and after the French Revolution. Within those recognitions
and concerns it was thought that natural science methods could be adapted to study the extent of
the social problems and therefore provide knowledge to facilitate social reforms. These views
encouraged the growth of a sociological approach to understanding the society and the
subsequent birth of Sociology as a distinct science of the society. Comte synthesizes these ideas
and called the study of the problems of society.

From these modest origins, Sociology as a discipline has steadily grown in scope and
importance. It is now a discipline which specializes in providing key social Institutions, for
example the school, with sources of special problems inherent in such Institutions. Sociology is
now a highly institutionalized field of study. In several world universities and colleges there are
departments of Sociology offering both undergraduate and graduate coursed and degrees in the
discipline. Furthermore, it is highly research-oriented. In institutions of higher learning, research
activities destined to produce data and information bearing upon social problems or social
theories are constantly undertaken.

Sociology is also a part of our practical lives. For example, in certain governmental services such
as hunger eradication, nutrition programmes, health and hygiene, family planning programmes,
social workers who are knowledgeable in sociology are used to interact with members of the
community and gauge the social value of the services provided. In social organisations,
communities, Schools, industries and in fact wherever people are, Sociology is utiliz3ed to
address the various problems and features of social life and society. In view of its extensive use,
we should also expect sociology to cover a variety of subject areas in its expression of research,
problem-solving theories and general knowledge.

1.5 SUBJECT AREAS OF SOCIOLOGY

As often stated, and as we have already explained elsewhere, the business of sociology is to
study the human society. The main thrust of sociology lies on understanding the human behavior
in relation to a group setting. This means that for the benefit of Sociology to accrue, it is essential
that human beings interact with each other; and, above all, their behavior must have some
influence or effect on each other. In other words, sociology embraces the human activities of
individuals with regard to the kind of social group relationships that are formed among the
members.
Sociology is also involved in studying social institutions such as family education, religion,
economy, and politics in order to determine the value, roles or functions of such institutions in
the society. The society is dependent on these social institutions for the fulfilment of its needs,
for example the rearing and socialization or education of the children. The failure or success of
any area of these social institutions in their work often ends up weakening or strengthening the
society in many ways.

Another important area of study addressed by sociology is the culture of a society. As you will
learn later in these lectures, culture is defined as the way of life of a society. This means that a
society’s knowledge, technology, beliefs. Patterns of education, morals, art, laws, customs, ideas,
material goods and other forms of wealth are included within culture. It is often said that cultures
distinguish societies from each other, and that a society CANNOT EXIST AS a society if it does
not have culture. Accordingly, Sociology studies different cultures as they exist in different
societies in order to draw up the differences between societies or groups, to determine what
values societies hold differently and how, to establish how cultures contribute to or influence
certain social functions such as burials, marriages, child rearing, work performance, problem
solutions, responsibility sharing, interactions and many others. Sociology therefore, examines
culture as the basis of the life of a society.

Social class formation or social stratification is another subject area that sociology studies. In this
concern Sociology looks particularly at certain forces such as education level and occupation,
which may influence the division of a society into specific layers- low, middle and upper- In
which different individuals are fitted. Within these concerns, sociology has the task of examining
the movements of individuals or their change from one stratum to another. This is normally
called social mobility. Social power formation, the political process, the education process, the
socialization process, economic structure, human and industrial production, professions, and
several other social phenomena are studied in this lecture of sociology in order to assess why and
how they affect the life of a society.

Another area of great interest to the sociology student is the aspect of social pathology. Social
pathology entails all the observable activities in a society that negatively affects the well-being of
a society. It includes various forms of deviant behavior, or non-conformity to the norms of a
group. We shall define deviant behavior which represents a departure from the socially agreed
and accepted norms in a group of society. In this sense, sociology examines the kind of deviant
behavior exhibited by individuals in a society with regard to why, how and what extent such
behaviors contribute to crime of various kinds, for example, juvenile delinquency, drug abuse,
social disobedience, greed and fraud, sex offences, school truancy, dishonesty, robbery and
assault, suicides, prostitution, gangsterism and many others.

Sociology as the science of society, studies various more specific human structures and situations
with a view of understanding how such structures and situations affect the individual and the
society as a whole. Manufacturing organizations concerned with social welfare, community
activities, health education and many more are of much interest to sociology. In particular,
sociology examines how the formal and informal nature of such organizations could affect their
services or functions, the workers or people they group and serve, the extent of associations of
interactions together with the power or authority flow within the organizations.
Thus as you can see, the scope and concern of Sociology is vast. We might correctly say that all
human activities involving all levels and kinds of social relationships are included in the field of
consideration and research explored by sociology or sociologists.
1.6 BRANCHES OF SOCIOLOGY
Given the wide variety of subject matter that sociology endeavors to deal with, sociologists have
shown continued interest in general sociology through specialization in one or two specific areas
once the general groundwork has been completed. The result of this is that sociology has
inevitably been subdivided into several branches commensurate with the specializations. Today,
sociologists recognize subdivisions of sociology into distinct branches such as:

1. Sociological Theory: this branch of sociology attempts to provide generalizations

concerning social phenomena: for example, how and why did classes come to be formed
in societies? Why do people in a society behave as they do?

2. Historical sociology: this is a specialised branch of sociology which tries to understand a

contemporary society through studying its past (with regard to its past events and
activities). For example, historical sociology my systematically study the past events and
activities of a society in order to discover the Genesis and the development of a particular
way of Life being practiced in a contemporary society.

3. Sociology of the family: this is a major branch of sociology which studies the family as a
basic social institution in any society. This branch examines the family in terms of its
evolution as an institution, its structure functions problems way of rearing children
education approach significance within the society relationship with wider society and
various other concerns.

4. Sociology of education: this is a highly developed branch of sociology which examines

an important social activity and institution in many societies -education. The sociology of
education systematically observes analyses and describes or explains education with
regard to-it's social use and significance in a society;-its relationship with other social
institutions of a society;-its impact or influence on a society;-its inherent social
problems;-the social relationships and organisation in schools;-teachers and their
relations to parents and-the teaching profession in general. We shall have a lot more to
discuss about the sociology of education in subsequent lectures.

Sociology covers a wide range of subject matter from social institutions culture social class
formation and social pathology. Because of the vastness and variety of its subject matter,
sociology has been subdivided into many branches each with its own specializations. Some of
these branches are sociological theory, historical sociology, sociology of the family, sociology of
education, and sociology of religion.

1.7 ACTIVITIES
1. Discuss what you understand by the term sociology and explain why sociology as a
discipline became prominent only in the last century.
2. The growth and recognition of sociology as a separate study discipline has been further
aided by the possibility of its being used in various situations. Discuss.
3. Sociology is now a highly specialized discipline. Show how this is true.
4. Closely observe a school setting of your own choice and using what we have said
sociology is indicate what features would make the school a subject matter for sociology.
 LECTURE 2
SOCIOLOGY OF EDUCATION ORIGINS
DEVELOPMENT AND ISSUES

2.1 INTRODUCTION
In the previous lecture we have listed and profiled sociology of education as one of the main and
most specialised branches of sociology. We have briefly also highlighted some of the features
that make sociology of education a distinct area of study within the larger field of sociology. A
deeper knowledge of the social side of education may be of great benefit.

Three aspects of sociology of education namely; its meaning, origins and development are basic
requirement in a course of this nature. This lecture touches on these three basic aspects. The
lecture therefore serves as an introduction to these branches of sociology which is expanding
rapidly as an important source of knowledge about education. All lectures subsequent to this one
will concentrate on expanding your knowledge about the social side of education as envisaged in
sociology of education. We however cannot present everything that is there to be learnt in
sociology of education. Hence it is expected that you would read more by yourself.

2.2 OBJECTIVES
At the end of this lecture you should be able to:
1. State the meaning of sociology of education.
2. Discuss the origins and development of sociology of education as a branch of sociology.
3. Analyze the issues that sociology of education addresses.

2.3 ORIGINS AND MEANINGS OF SOCIOLOGY OF EDUCATION

a) How did we define sociology? What does sociology emphasize in its studies? You should
answer these important questions in order to understand the real meaning of sociology of
education. You may have noticed that two distinct disciplines are brought together to
form a new area of study. As a specialized area of study sociology of education can be
defined as a discipline which attempts to analyses systematically the sociological
aspects, processes and patterns occurring within the educational phenomena.

From this definition it is clear that sociology of education in its concerns about
education will concentrate on studying and explaining concepts, activities and problems
which are sociological in nature but occurring in or emanating from and associated with
all situations of education. Take school as an example. Who is involved in it? You may
quickly say other components such as parents, administrators at various levels,
surrounding communities, environment of various kinds and other groups with special
interest in education are part of the school activity or otherwise. In combination or
separately this components make up the sources of combining social forces and
influence relationships, interactions, behaviours, decisions, and thoughts that affects the
 school setting. It is for the study of this interaction and social conditions that sociology
of education is meant for; and it is on the study of these same conditions and many
others like them that the discipline has continued to grow into a specialized branch of
sociology geared towards and enlightening us on the social side of education.

The coming of sociology of education had however a cloudy behaviour beginning as the
early proponents of the new branch could seldom reach a consensus on what its meaning
would be and the grounds upon which they would be a convergence between sociology
and education. Next, we shall see how that ground "or sense "for convergence was ably
discovered and stated. Today we recognize trained sociologists and educationists as the
most likely people to have shown interest and claim expert participation in studying the
social side of education.

b) Origin of sociology of education

The idea that education is comprised of themes, conditions and practices meriting social
and logical studies was first stated by academicians, sociologists, social philosophers and
educationists John Dewey (1859 -1952) and Emile Durkheim. They pointed out some
common grounds and directions where sociology and education could be said to
converge.

John Dewey’s ideas began to take shape in the early 20th century following what may be
called an appreciation of the relationship between the school and society. His concern
about education began to grow after observing how fast the simple community life
structures in his time were changing. The main institutions entrusted with a child's
education, the church and the school were often unable to cope with this change. They
were inadequate in preparing a child to meet the new social ways adapted by changing
society. It seemed to him that the growing child risked facing other confusion as he
walked to adulthood in the new society. To avert this seeming breaking down in the
child’s nurturing, Dewey suggested an “ideal School “in which it would be possible to
elicit a social cooperation capable of enriching the social life growth of a child. The
components that Dewey covered as capable of repairing that enrichment would be the
community and the established School.

What Dewey was there for promoting was a practical way of educating a child in the best
possible manner; a way that would reflect a sense of community life as expressed in the
interests, hopes, needs and expectations of the larger society outside. In turn, the social
cooperation elicited by his ideal school with benefits to the child's social life both in his
home and neighborhood. Eventually, by offering this kind of social education to a
growing child who would be able to stand on his own, the society would be much
improved. Emile Durkheim in his effort to discover a meeting point between sociology
and education took a more idealistic or theoretical stand than Dewey. In his lectures
given before groups of teachers, Durkheim portrayed education as being social in
character, functional in origin; and socializing in process. In this sense, education
theoretical framework if there is one, would be founded in a sociological theory rather
than in any other social science.
 c) What is the meaning of all that Durkheim was saying?
Express in your own words what you think Durkheim's theory means.
Simply, Durkheim was attempting to delineate the work of education as being that of
transforming what he called an 'asocial being’ into a 'social being '. An asocial being
meant to him someone who is not yet socialized or does not yet know internalized and
practice his society’s way of life. A newly born child or an infant is such as asocial being.
If that trend continues to grow, he slowly learns the way of his society, its attitudes,
skills, and behaviours. His nature changes from that of a helpless child to that of a
responsible adult. That transformation according to Durkheim is just too complex to be
expected to develop in the course of the child's natural growing up. Instead, the
transformation must be nurtured within the framework of a society which draws upon all
kinds of forces including education to effectively build a new individual-a socialized
individual able to live in harmony in a society benefiting it and from it. This is what
Durkheim implied in his theoretical view of education. Because of his ideas Durkheim is
considered as the father of ‘sociology of education'. As a result of Dewey’s and
Durkheim's theories, the stage for a sociological approach to education was now set.
Other proponents with equally persuasive ideas about the sociological nature of education
were slowly but steadily making their contributions to the development of this new
branch of sociology. Many sociologists contributed to the discipline in the 1930 and later.
In this lecture we want to highlight a few contributions made by other proponents.

2.4 FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIOLOGY OF EDUCATION

In the 1930’s, Sir Fred Clerke's views about the sociological approach to education came in the
form of his unreserved acceptance of the fact that sociology can concretely be applied in the
planning of an education program geared towards producing citizens with characters of the type
preferred in the society. Hence the content of education should have the common purpose of
deliberately training individuals for ‘citizen consciousness'. In the 1940s a German sociologist by
the name of Karl Mannheim came to view education as a ‘social technique' which could be used
to socially control the society and whose program could also be used to improve the society.

According to Mannheim, ‘Education can only be understood when we know in what society and
for what social position pupils are being educated ". Therefore, a sociological approach to
educational concerns or problems should ultimately provide positive aims in education. In the
1950s, W.A.C Stewart proposed a training course for teachers which would begin with a basic
knowledge of sociological issues as social structure, control, change and others before delving
into the application of sociology in the realm of education. In his contribution to the sociological
view of education, Professor Stewart further urged looking into the curriculum, the classroom
discipline and the teacher in the education institution and many other concerns of both
sociological and educational values.

Besides this, individual classic effort towards the awareness of the social nature of education,
there were a few other intermingling but equally significant movements which strengthened
further developments of sociology of education. Among them were the Social Philosophers who
provided an organismic view of the society. In this view, the society was likened to a whole
organism whose livelihood was greatly dependent on its different parts of organs. The
institutions found in the society or the organ doing specialized tasks on behalf of the complete
organism whose livelihood was greatly dependent on its parts. Among these institutions of the
society was education which had the specialized job of training and preparing all members of the
society, the children in particular, for the proper responsibilities, aptitudes, attitudes, manners,
behaviours, that would be expected of them later. In short, it was a particular society’s culture
that education was given the task of transmitting.

Another movement can be called the institutionalization of Sociology of Education. This

movement made its appearance early in the 20 th century in form of courses for the training of
teachers in institutions as Columbia and Stanford Universities. This movement came in the form
of an organisation (National Society for the study of Educational Society in U.S.A) which began
in 1928 to sponsor research work and to publish the results in its professional journal; that is,
journal of Educational Sociology.

With the help of this movement it was now possible for the educators not only to begin
understanding many problems of education that presented sociological implications, but also to
apply the findings or the results of the research work to solve other problems such as those of
juvenile delinquency, community relationships with the school, school truancy, effects of social
problems on school achievement, and others.

With the growth of other social science disciplines such as anthropology and social psychology,
it was inevitable that Sociology of education would develop. Expert researchers eager to get a
greater insight into the new discipline, turned to study education systematically in its connections
with their own discipline specializations and as a part of their interdisciplinary studies.

Another important, but less evident movement reinforcing the development of sociology of
education, emerged at the closure of the WW II hostilities. The countries involved in the war
who had undergone large-scale social economic devastation, suddenly realized the importance of
education in the efforts they were making towards social amelioration. The rejuvenated interests
in education encouraged the use of money, personnel, and a lot of energy in the recovery of
political stability. No doubt, this movement provided special impetus to the growth of sociology
of education.

Currently, great emphasis is being put on the necessity for every educator to realize the
importance of the social side of education. This has given the Sociology of education new
impetus in its expansion. Worldwide, universities and colleges dealing with the training of
teachers and educators have developed syllabuses which incorporate both the practical and
theoretical aspects germane to a sociological understanding of educational problems.

Furthermore, the intensive research work carried out by these institutions is the key to our
continued understanding and appreciation of how socially important education is. Following
what this and many other proponents have said and done towards founding and developing
Sociology of Education, it is no longer wise for both sociologists and educationists to continue
disagreeing over what should be the nature and meaning of sociology of Education, or what form
the new discipline should take. Suggestions have also been made that sociology of Education
should be viewed as a branch of Sociology rather than a branch of Education, and that it should
be concerned with the problems of education which are social in nature and not with problems
that pertain to educational practices.

The talk right now lies ahead for sociologists and educationists is to discern and delineate exactly
what content, considerations or issues the new discipline should begin and continue to address
within the realms of education. We shall briefly highlight the content or issues of education that
sociology of education is more likely to be concerned with in the next lecture. These issues will
be further elaborated on as we continue with our lectures in Sociology of education.

2.5 SUMMARY
We have seen that this lecture deals with origins, meaning and development of sociology of
education. Two scholars; Emile Durkhein and John Dewey have played a very significant role in
the development of sociology of education.

2.6 ACTIVITY
1. What are John Dewey’s and Emile Durkheim’s standpoint in the teaching of sociology of
education?
2. When would you describe a person as ‘a social being '? Discuss giving examples from
your teaching experience.
 LECTURE 3
SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT AND EDUCATION

3.1 INTRODUCTION
Society carries out its functions efficiently not as a mass, but through its institutions. Through
such institutions as the family, church, government, industry, and various other organizations or
groups, the society is able to deliver its service, exercise its control, show its interest in and
support for schools and the overall education process. When the social institutions become lax,
weak or they cut down (reduce) their support for education, the broad educational objectives of
the society are bound to erode, eventually. It is in this sense that the area of relationships
between a society and its education system has become a concern vital to the enquiry of
sociology of education in its attempt to help us understand the issues pertaining to the social side
of education.

3.2 THE FUNCTIONS AND CONTRIBUTIONS OF EDUCATION

What are the social purposes, objectives or aims of an education activity in a society?
What are the observable contributions of education in society? Honest and comprehensive
answers to such questions are important whenever our society needs to evaluate the nature of its
educational activity and how adequate it is. Correct and acceptable answers to such questions
provide the rationales or justification for the provision, maintenance and support of education by
a society. The search for the proper answers involves looking thoroughly into the society in order
to measure and establish for example, how will education help to socialize children, transmit
culture, develop employable skills, personality and behaviour, bring about desirable changes in
economic, social and technological areas, and promote social integration and national unity. It
also involves investigating to what extent education contributes to or is used to promote fewer
desirable outcomes such as social stratification (social class formation), ethnic and racial
differentiation, social control and disruption and power acquisition. It is in that sense that we
would consider the functions and contributions of education as an appropriate source of issues to
be studied in sociology of education. Its function and contribution is in fact an important issue
stop????????????

3.3 A CHILD'S SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT MILIEUS AND THEIR EFFECTS ON

LEARNING
Understandably, a child learns from other children, his parents, the members of his, members of
the community, the school, and from observations of various other surrounding factors. All these
components form what is a child’s social surrounding. this environment has the capacity to
influence his acquisition of physical, mental, and social knowledge, his present and future
abilities, interactions, integrations, discriminations, behaviour patterns, personality growth,
individualism, competencies and various other areas and forms of development. when the nature
of the social environment is such that there is keen interest, coordinated efforts and adequate
provisions towards the social and personal needs of a growing child, when developers well-
balanced, socially well-adjusted and emotionally stable person ready to learn and lead a full life
as a human being in a society. On the other hand, if the social environment is one of indifference,
ignorance, social discord, improper family care, control and guidance, condoning or permitting
deviant behaviour, a growing child is bound to grow as an ill-trained or ill-behaved person,
essential maladjusted of feeble minded individual, an uncaring, indifferent or irresponsible
member of the society. The ability of such a child to learn and to lead a full life in society is
greatly impaired considering how much the social environment may influence a growing child in
his ability to learn, it is necessary for the teacher or any educator to become aware of and take
interest in the factors that constitute a child's social environments. it is in that sense that a child's
social environments and their effects on his learning have become such an important issue in the
study of the social side of education.

3.4 THE SCHOOL AS A SOCIAL ORGANISATION

an organization has been defined as a social system that carries out or pursues specific tasks and
objects for which it is intended and structured. From this definition, it seems right to expect that
since different organizations are meant to fulfill different objectives they should be structured
differently. Basically, however, a typical organization has in its makeup, a group of people who
are frequently interacting with each other in their need to perform and fulfill their organizational
objectives; they often use a stereotyped system of practices and procedures, follow general
regulations and rules. A typical organization has a formal structure, a system of relationships, a
hierarchical order, a power or authority structure. Positions are held, roles distributed,
obligations, improved expectations stated. A network of informal relationships developed
between and among members of the organization. But above all, there is an expression of the
goals which the organization is striving to attain. However ordinary a society is in its
organization, its goals and objectives and what make it different.

having pointed out the basic characteristics of an organization and the importance of stating its
goals, it is inevitable to ask the question; does the school fit the organizational picture presented
above? does the school makeup include the basic components to enable it to pursue its tasks and
attain its goals? Is there a promulgated goal or goals to be attained by the school? How do the
various formal and informal structures interact and contribute to the attainment or the failure to
attain its goals? All these questions and many more like them are important for assessing the
value or even the validity of any educational system. Experts in Sociology of education and
many other interested people, view the school as a social organization and as a pertinent source
of sociological issues, particularly in its view of the fact that the school has been given the sole
task of educating or socializing children in order to make them responsible members of the
society.

3.5 THE TEACHER AND THE TEACHING ACTIVITIES

even want sweetie Belle basic organisational components are present in the school and the girls
are well known,goal attainment can become an issue if appropriate means and resources to attain
towards that end are lacking. By appropriate means and resources we mean the teacher and the
teaching activities.the teaching that the teacher does in the school is actually what distinguishes
the school as a unique organisation in the society. The performance of the teacher when
interacting with his people's from there 'spearhead 'towards attaining the educational and
socialization goals of the school. That interaction requires that the teacher should play several
roles such as the instructor guide and counsellor, disciplinarian, evaluator and so on.
Furthermore,because the rules are considered to be a critical part of the teachers socializing
efforts, there is need to prepare,train or socialize the teacher professionally before he can engage
in his teaching duties so as to enable him to carry out the various roles adequately. the society
uses the teacher as its representative in the school as well as the instrument to carry out its
requirement and fulfill its expectations for its growing members, the children. The quality and
frequency of the teachers socialization affects, in turn, they socializing and teaching activities
among the growing children.

The teachers teaching activities have, by far, the greatest importance in the school organisation.
these activities are viewed as socializing actions because the teacher is employed to interact with
a less socially repaired section of the society: the children or pupils. Furthermore,the teaching
activities are socially purposeful because they follow certain socially prescribed routines and
methods with the aim of fulfilling a particular purpose in the society.

Taken in combination,the teacher and the teaching activities in the school are important and need
to be given special care in any educational system. If they are faulty, trolley provided for ill-
conceived, it is the task which the society has assigned to the school organisation that becomes
affected. Ultimately, the society is compelled to lay the blame on and mistrust the school
organisation. It is because of such concerns that the combination of teachers and teaching
activities he has become an important part in the debate on important discussions in sociology of
education.

3.6 SUMMARY
The list of areas given here as issues to be studied and researched in sociology of education is
not-we repeat-not exhaustive. But we can summarise this lecture by saying that the five main
areas seem to be important sources of issues in sociology of education. They are:
1. Relationships between the society and education
2. Functions and contributions of education
3. A child's social environment and learning
4. School as a social organisation
5. The teacher and the teaching activities
In addition, in each area, several additional issues were mentioned. It was also shown why each
area and the issues thereof must be considered an important part of the content of sociology of
education.

3.7 ACTIVITIES
1. Explain what you understand by the term sociology of education. In what ways would
you say that sociology of education differs from sociology?
2. Discuss what forces or actions have been responsible for the growth development and
recognition of sociology of education as a distinct area of study.
 3. select any two areas which were discussed as sources of issues in sociology of education.
Then pick a school of your own choice and using the schools environment, investigate or
determine what types of issues are sure greatest importance under the areas you have
selected.

LECTURE 4
SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES AND EDUCATION
4.1 INTRODUCTION
The study of sociological and models help scholars to propose what is generally referred to as
sociological theory. The term theory refers to a set of interrelated prepositions or statements that
reflect a fairly broad range of research findings. For example in sociology,we have theories of
social change that attempt to explain how societies solve and role theories and that account for
how people learn how to behave according to societal expectations.

In this lecture,the theoretical models that we are going to be looking at are broader systems of
explanations that are grounded not so much in the findings of prior research as in yet unproved
and given unprovable assumptions about the very nature of things.

4.2 OBJECTIVES
By the end of this lecture, you should be able to:
1. Demonstrate an understanding of the key positions taken by the consensus of scholars
and evidenced by the conflict models.
2. List some of the educational implications that can be drawn from these models.

4.3 SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES AND EDUCATION

In this topic we shall look at the major sociological theories and their implications for education.
First we shall examine those theories that view society from a holistic point of view, with a set
pattern of rules and behaviour to be observed. In this content we shall examine the two major
theories that stress consensus and conflict in society. In addition there will be a discussion of the
theories that see society as a family made up of individuals. This is referred to as a symbolic
interactionism.

Before we begin to examine these models and that stress consensus and conflict let us look
briefly at the evolutionary model.

4.3.1 THE EVOLUTIONARY MODEL

This model tended to dominate sociology during the 19th century. The evolutionary model in
sociology sprung from an analogy in the field of biology. Biologists traced stages in the
development of organisms. Sociologists society as proceeding inevitably through such fixed
stages. Furthermore, the idea of evolution was linked with the idea of progress, 8 States
representing a higher stage than the previous one. Auguste comte talked of three stages, namely,
conquest defence and industry.

Karl Marx used MPs to explain his view about the historical development of society. Society is
moved through different stages of civilization: for instance, feudalism during which land-owning
clauses held domination area over servants to capitalism. Furthermore each stage of civilization
prepared the ground for the next stage, because each stage contained in itself what he termed as
“The seeds of its own destruction “and would inevitably be succeeded by the stage next or higher
on the scale of evolution.

the stage of capitalism would inevitably be replaced by socialism and eventually by communism.
Many politicians of the time used to this model to oppose any ideas of guided social change.
However, by the 20th century, so much information had been obtained about societies all over
the world that it was not considered necessarily true that all societies went through fixed stages
of development. The idea that all societies pass through a fixed set of stages has now been
definitely discarded.

4.3.2 CONSENSUS MODEL

This is one model that seeks to account for order in society. It seeks to explain how social
structures and organisations are integrated and maintained. listed below are some of the major
issues raised by the terrorists using the consensus model.

Most members of society share the same values and norms. Societies are stable because of this
factor. It should be noted that norms refer to standards that govern behaviour. They are the
society's expectations of what is accepted as normal. Sometimes norms are formalized as laws
but in most cases they are informal. Furthermore, values are inferred from observed behaviour.
For example if one associates with certain people then we can assume that he values their
friendship. In this case it is stated clearly that's societie see cooperation as vital and rewarding.
The consensus theorists point out that violence and conflict may appear from time to time but
they are contained and overcome. They are seen as mere strains in the system. Societies then
returns to a state of equilibrium because the goals of the society can be reached more efficiently
through other relationships such as trust and cooperation which persists even in the time of
conflict. The social system, therefore tend to persist because the members accept its norms and
values.

1. Social life involves commitments. It is pointed out that cooperation is a phenomenon that
accounts for social stability.
2. Societies are of necessity and cohesive.
3. Social life depends on solidarity.
4. Social life is based on reciprocity and cooporation.
5. Social systems rest on consensus. Emphasis is on the mutual interferences of various
parts of society.
6. Society recognises legitimate authority. The term authority is used to refer to the
probability that a specific command will be obeyed. In this case the essence of authority
is voluntary obedience because one believes that the source of the command is legitimate.
in this connection consensus theorists argue that so long as the leaders and the led share
 the same values, there should be little political conflict, since there is agreement on the
goal of society. Government is based on the consent of the governed, and therefore
people have power over the government and vice versa.
7. Social systems are integrated i.e. the society through its members and constituent
organisations adapts itself to the environment, attains its goals, integrates new members
into the functioning whole, and manage extensions as they arise. Social systems tend to
persist.

Thus, the consensus theorists attributes to social systems the characteristics of commitment,
cohesion, solidarity, consensus, reciprocity, cooperation, integration, stability, and persistence.
The model lays emphasis on the significance of norms and accepted values.

4.3.3 THE CONFLICT MODEL

This is another model that seeks to account for order in society. This theory has its origins in
Marxist thinking. According to Marx, society is to be seen in terms of conflicting relationships.
For instance, the capitalists (who own the means of production) are seen to be in conflict with the
workers (who provide the labour).

We shall look at some of the key issues that are raised by this model. They basically negate some
of the positions taken by consensus theorists.

1. Values and norms are not the same for all members of the society but vary according to
one's position and self-interest. Interests are never identical for all groups and the division
of society into different classes with different access to a variety of interests. There is
consensus only among those who share the same privileges.
2. Social life involves inducement and coercion. Marxists contend out that social control is
not an expression of the consensus but operation by those who have power. Leaders in
this case seek to maintain the status quo in order to serve their own self-interests.
3. Social life is necessarily divisive. This is primarily because organisational setups
encourage inequalities. This is a phenomenon that brings about conflict. For example in
our society, such divisions as those between the rich and the poor schools, rural vs. urban
schools generate conflict. The rich schools have more facilities, a factor that puts them in
an advantageous position and allows them to perform better in examinations. Search
kinds of inequalities will obviously generate conflict rather than consensus.
4. Social life generates opposition, exclusion and hostility.
5. Social life generate structured conflict. For example if the government decides to provide
free education to all students, a situation may arise where some students may get a better
education than others. Consensus theorists may explain this by saying that some students
are more hardworking than others -whereas the conflict theorists will talk of looking at
the structure of the society in terms of who gets a better education. The conflict theorists
will point to the ruling class as having the economic and political upper hand.
6. Social life generates sectional interests.
7. Social differentiation involves power. Here the Marxists affirm that political leadership is
maintained through power. In a way, power is the ability to affect one’s own will against
resistance from others. Power is often exercised by the use of Force. This does not
happen only at governmental levels but it could happen in schools-where conditions are
 manipulated in such a way that students are forced to obey the rules. There is also the
idea that people themselves have no real power. Even in a democracy, there is no such
thing as freedom of the press because the “powerful elite” control the press. Radical
leaders who are popular are co-opted or eliminated by rulers so that they don't create
trouble for the leadership.
8. Social systems are integrated and beset by "contradictions”, i.e. there is a lot of
disagreement in social systems.
9. Social systems are constantly changing.

Thus conflict theorists attributes the characteristics of coercion, division, hostility, conflict and
change to society itself. There is a marked emphasis on the significance of interests and power.
However, it should be noted that both the consensus and the conflict models although different in
terms of the nature of society, emphasize characteristics that can be found in any given society.
It is true that conflicts can more easily arise in a society when there is imbalance in the allocation
of resources. At the same time it can also be observed that conflict can lead to positive results
particularly when the norms and structure of the group and modified through the process of
handling conflict.

In a situation where conflict is suppressed such as in a school or family, serious problems can
occur. When the conflict breaks out in such a society it will be more intense because it is based
on accumulated grievances and hostility. Conflicts are therefore necessary and a necessary part
of living together. In any given society conflict are shaped and controlled by the customs of the
society in order to maintain peaceful communal life. Conflicts modify the system but do not
destroy it. Furthermore, different societies in different times and places display more of one type
of characteristics than of the other.

4.4 EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATIONS

The proponents of each model see a lot of inadequacies in the other for example the critics of the
consensus model see it as serving a conservative function in sociological thinking. It is argued
that the model deflects attention from the facts of social tension and conflict. The consensus
theorists have different interpretations of the educational phenomenon. For example, if a school
system adopts the goal of promoting such norms as honesty, good citizenship and trust and does
not appear to be likely to attain such goals the consensus theorists would suggest corrective
measures such as counseling. They would suggest that the students responsible for indiscipline or
bad behavior should be talked to in the hope that they will reform. They would therefore suggest
reformist measures.

That conflict theorists on the contrary will look at the inequalities that may be prevalent and then
suggest some changes in the basic economic or social structure. They point out that in the model
the basic condition of social life is dissension, arising from competition for power and
inequalities between groups. Life is an endless struggle between those without advantages which
they wish to secure and those with privileges who wish I got to get more or to prevent others
from taking what is available. They then argue that the consensus model distorts reality. It does
not attempt to tackle the root of the problem. The other issue that is viewed differently by the
proponents of these models is that of recruitment, achievement and placement in our educational
institutions. In cases where selection is on the basis of ability then people take it that's not
everyone is gifted intellectually and the prizes and certificates should go only to those who do
well in examinations. The consensus theorists emphasize ability as the key element that accounts
for better performance in examinations. Conflict theorists give that some students perform better
than others not necessarily because others are hampered by such factors as a particular exam
favouring the urban areas more than the rural areas. They also argue that those who perform
better are in some favorable social position that puts them at an advantage whereas those who
perform poorly and the disadvantaged members of the population.
4.5 ACTIVITIES
How might consensus and conflict theorists interpret the following educational issues?
1. Constant voting by university students
2. Stealing of school property
3. Performance in national examinations
4. The problem of student dropouts in some schools.
 LECTURE 5
EDUCATION AND THE SOCIALIZATION PROCESS

INTRODUCTION
This lecture will help you understand what socialization is, and more importantly, enable you to
begin seeing the significance of education as a form of socialization in a society. In order to
enable you to grasp the process of socialization in a growing child, you will learn more about the
stages of socialization as well as know what features characterize the process of socialization.
Later, important agents of socialization are examined with regard to two important agents of
socialization, namely the family and the school. These will be examined in greater depth in order
to discover how they work to help a person, and specifically a child, to become socialized.

OBJECTIVES
At the end of this lecture, you should be able to:
Define socialization as well as show how the concept of socialization is related to education.

THE PROCESS OF SOCIALIZATION

As all other human infants, you were not born with the ability or the knowledge necessary to
participate in any human activity in your society. You were utterly helpless, unable to feed,
clothe and protect yourself. Neither could you work nor communicate meaningfully with those
around you. You had no conception of your body as something distinct from other objects and
you had no idea of your own 'self '. There are many other abilities you can think of that a human
infant is born ignorant of. Can you list some of them?

Yet as we all know or are aware of, if a human infant has congenital abnormalities and diseases
occur after birth, he will inevitably develop abilities and slowly join in its own society. That is to
say, that a human infant is endowed with a biological potentiality to gradually change from his
helpless baby form to a recognizable human form with all musculature, bone structure, facial
traits and many other distinct body characteristics and developments. It is also true in another
sense that's a human infant is predisposed to once social living and definite relationships, and
still wants the social acquisition of new knowledge, skills aptitudes, behaviors, attitudes and so
on.

But our biological endowment can barely enable us to begin forming relationships with other
humans or to survive in and function within our own society or social group. For example, and
the fact that you are tall, short, muscular, or bony enable you to know how to behave when
meeting your elders, before the law, in a social gathering, or how you should treat and relate to
others? Can it enable you to be responsible as a parent, husband, wife, a civil servant or company
employee, a school teacher, a doctor, a politician? Can it enable you to adopt proper ethics, and
help you decide whether you should smoke, drink, take drugs, hurt others, damaged property, lie,
steal, embezzle money, and so on? Or weather you would be honest, kind, courteous, patient,
hard-working? Can it influence you into becoming an atheist or otherwise?

The general answer to all these questions and others like them is that our biological inheritances,
such as our physical traits are not capable of influencing the development of non-physical traits,
or social characteristics. Therefore, as we grow physically mature, there must be something else
to help us acquire the social characteristics of a human being. That is to say, our physical
maturity must be accompanied by a process of social learning if we are to develop into
acceptable members of our society. We must be taught, we must learn, internalize and finally
practice what is taken to be a society’s way of life. Another important factor: a newly born child
is quite unaware of his society’s way of life even though he is predisposed towards social
learning.

This fact that a human infant is completely naive regardless of its society’s way of life is what
underlies the process of socialization and the need for every society in the world to evolve its
own specific methods of teaching its neonates its social ways.

WHAT IS MEANT BY SOCIALIZATION?

As often defined by sociologists and educationists,the term SOCIALIZATION is a process by
which a person, such as a growing human child, steadily learns the ways of his society or group
so that he is able to live fully and function in it as a responsible adult member.
It is a process through which each one of us is built up into a group member once he has learnt
and internalized the social expectations of his group.

Socialization has a number of important features:

a) For socialization to be a successful building up process, especially in the childhood years,
it is must be time oriented. Timing is important to socialization.none of us is able to learn
everything there is to learn in life and about life at once. You cannot, for example,
successfully toilet train a one day old infant. Not can we expect a standard one child to
acquire the knowledge of,say, calculus,unless other skills such as reading and writing are
taught first. We learn better as we mature organically, and we easily acquire more
advanced skills after mastering simpler or more basic learning. Our maturity both organic
and in the mastery of skills is this time related. It is in this sense that timing is an
important coupling factor in socialization as it ensures that we are at the appropriate stage
where (normal) individuals are usually capable of learning and retaining a specific task.
In this sense, we may associate the process of socialization with that of education. When
you are being taught you are in a sense being socially equipped or prepared to live in
your society in accordance with what is accepted to be acceptable to it.

b) Socialization is often characterized by a sequence of events. These events occurred in

stages during one's lifetime. The given events at each stage of socialization ensure the
 preparation of a child for a number of roles in the society. There are four stages of
socialization through which everyone of us presumably travels from infancy to
adulthood. We shall briefly describe them here. However, bear in mind that there is no
distinct boundary between one stage and the next one. Instead, there is a slow merging of
events of a prior stage into those of the next stage. As time passes, the events of prior
stage grow less prominent as those of the next stage assume more importance. The first
stage is termed as there Oral Stage. This stage signifies the initial moments of a baby's
life soon after birth. During this moment and the baby depends only on the use of his
mouth to tell others of his needs. Using only audible language known to him, crying, he
learns to signal his pressing need for care. He may be wet, cold, hungry, sick or just
lonely. It is for the parents to decode the signal and thereafter provide the necessary
remedy. The baby learns to anticipate it's feeding time depending on when the mother or
provider schedules. This helps the baby also to learn some control of its hunger drive. No
doubt this is a stage in which the main goal of socialization is oral dependence. At this
stage the baby does not distinguish between himself and the mother. The oral stage May
last anywhere between 1 and 2 years of birth.

c) In the second stage is termed as the anal stage. As the term implies, the stage is
characterized by and the imposition of new demands such as that the child should begin
learning to control his bowel movements. Toilet training, therefore, becomes the main
focus of socialization in the stage. It is in this stage that a child first learns to receive and
give love. Through repeated cues, cautions, rewards and punishments given by the
mother or other provider the child learns to begin avoiding some incorrect movements
such as wetting himself in favour of correct ones. He slowly becomes aware of himself as
a separate being from his mother and he realises that certain specific activities such as
preparing a meal are performed by his mother. He is however still attached strongly to his
mother or provider. At this stage the mother or provider performs the role of a socialiser
on behalf of society. The anal stage lasts roughly up to the end of the third year of a child.

d) The third stage of socialization is termed as Oedipus latency. The oedipal period is short
and lasts only through 4 to 5 years. The latency period of this stage then follows. Again,
this is only a rough diversion as each period may last a little longer in some children. The
oedipal period is marked by a crisis, called-the “Oedipal Crisis” during which the child
realises, for the first time since birth, the fact that he is being cared for by a lot more
people in the family. He learns to identify, accept and trust other members of his family
such as the father, brothers and sisters. and then he learns to interact with the members of
his family and not just his mother. Through this interaction in the family,the child first
learns to be a full member of his family and then, interact with other humans in the
society. If the child is initially restricted or prevented from learning the social interaction
in the family or any other suitable environment, he may face a number of problems. He
may become inhibited, or even develop into a social misfit if no effort is made to
socialize him as he matures. A complicated feature that appears during the oedipal period
is jealousy. This feeling among the four, 5 and 6 year olds arises from the children's
tendency to become closely attached to the parents of the opposite sex. And that is the
boy will tend to show greater attachment to the mother and thus display a feeling of
jealousy towards the father who may appear to be in competition for the mother’s
 attention. Freud termed this feeling of jealousy in the boy as order pass complex. The
"Electra complex" is the strong attachment the girl has for the father and the feeling of
jealousy she displays the words the mother who is seen as a competing factor in the
father-daughter relationship. But as the children grow, certain social pressures are
imposed upon them to reduce these tendencies. Major efforts are then made to begin
molding the child into an individual that reflects his or her correct and appropriate sex-
role. For example, boys as well as girls are given twice that reflect their separate sex
roles. The boys are encouraged to engage in activities or tolerated as they play roles
similar to their fathers and girls imitate their mothers. It is hoped that eventually, once a
boy or girl has learnt to identify certain tasks and activities as being those of his/her sex,
he/she will look upon the father or the mother as the model and therefore make the
correct sex-role identification. This correct sex identification by boys and girls through
imitation is of crucial importance in any society. Failure to learn the correct sex
identification has often been blamed as one of the sources of homosexuality in the
societies.

As per child is going through the Oedipal crisis and trying to learn and accept his father and
siblings and to become a member of his family he also learns to associate with children of his
age outside his family. These are known as the age mates, playmates or peer groups. It is also the
time when formal schooling begins.

In school, the children must learn to obey rules, whether school or peer group rules. He must
learn to play the games of his peers and follow certain rules. He must learn to share and be
responsible, be honest and cooperative if he wants friendships to continue. In school he must
learn to behave well, be tidy in his dressing and work habits, and keep time; he must learn to be
courteous, respectful, competitive but cooperative at the same time. The school situation imposes
difficult tasks on the child. But these tasks must be land in accordance with what the society
expects of its grown-up members. Boys for instance, are more careful now to avoid girlish
activities and move away from identifying with their mothers. Girls learn to identify more
completely with companions and activities that fits their own sex. Following Oedipus period
comes the latency period. This is part of the Oedipus-latency stage, and it is only significant in
the socialization of a child in that it is the only period during which interest or attachments to the
opposite sex is somewhat suppressed or latent. For example, boys after the age of about 6 or so,
and onto the beginning of adolescence, appear to be preoccupied only with "boyish" kinds of
activities. During this time generally, boys tend to sneer at anything to do with girls or of
“girlish” things.

e. The fourth stage of socialization is termed as the adolescence stage and is the dawn of
adulthood. it begins roughly with the onset of puberty and includes the years we normally
referred to as the teen years. Adolescence therefore is a stage during which young men and
women must start learning what lies ahead-the adult life. Adolescence is, however, characterized
by crisis, conflicts, and disagreements between parents and adolescents. This is because during
this stage certain important body-maturing processes such as sex maturity are beginning to take
place. As a result adolescents demand independence from parental control in order to be free to
experience certain activities such as sex and drug-taking. Parents, on the other hand, have duty to
control participation in these activities if they are not in keeping with the morals of society. Most
adolescents are at school and still dependent on their parents. The kind of strain and the extent to
which they worsen during adolescence could depend on the teaching and reasoning that parents
use to guide their adolescent children.

In spite of strains, there is a more serious kind of socialization that the adolescents need to go
through during the stage. This visualisation should start preparing the adolescents for adulthood
with its responsibilities, and roles such as marriage, parenthood, occupation, career and other
obligations in the wider society.

f. Socialization is a lifelong process. This means that once a child is born, he begins his learning
right there. Socialization occurs in all of us in many ways and at all times as long as we are alive.
That is to say, for each one of us socialization starts at the moment we take our first breath soon
after birth, and ends at the time of our death. When we are alive, we are continuously being
socialized . for example, a child is being socialized when he learns how to control his hunger
drive and bowel movements, when he learns how to read and write in school, and when he learns
to share with others and obey the rules of his playgroup. A teenager who learns to appreciate and
acquire the dressing habits or the dance steps popular among his age mates is being socialized.
When a husband and a wife are learning how to behave like parents; they are being socialized.
And is a retired civil servant or a private employee is learning a new hobby, craft or business
technique to keep him busy he is being socialized. As you can see, there is no end to
socialization until we die. Throughout, we are constantly fitting our behaviour to individual and
social expectations. In summary you're quite the culture of your society or social group through
socialization. That is we learn or are helped to learn new ways of living and behaving; we learn
about our society’s beliefs, values, attitudes and ideas; we learn our society's morals, customs,
traditions and habits; we learn our languages, skills, roles, technology and so on. These ways of
living and behaving, at what we include in the culture of a society.

Socialization as a social learning process, is best accomplished when there is the right kind of
socially interacting parties. That is, for socialization to occur there must be persons who are
being socialized called the Socializees. They may be for instance, a newborn baby, a new
employee, a police officer and so on. There must be another lot of persons who are suitable to
teach the Socializees. These are called the socializers. The socializers can be parents, teachers,
church members and so on. The Socializees and Socializees must meet and socially interact not
in a vacuum but in definite environments so that the interaction will need to the desired kind of
socialization.

Having learnt that socialization is a lifelong process, we may ask ourselves how it is sustained in
a society or a social group. In every society the special training to acquire the appropriate culture
is a task that is carried out by a number of agents of socialization. There socializers are grouped
into suitable agents. for example, the parents are grouped into a socializing agent called the
family. Other agents are the school, the peer group, mass media and religious institutions. In our
next lecture we shall examine the functions of these agents with regard to how each socialize as
the child.

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 LECTURE 6
AGENTS OF SOCIALIZATION

INTRODUCTION
With the concept of socialization clear in our minds, we are now in a position to examine how
socialization is effected in a society. In any society, are human infant’s behaviour cannot be
classified as "human" immediately after birth, or even within the first few months following
birth. We have already seen why this is so. before we are able to say that a child's behaviour is
human, the child has to undergo a 'humanizing'process in which he socially interacts with and
learnt from other humans. This is what we have already referred to as socialization.

In order to effect the humanizing process of socialization, a society has a number of structures
within which the child is socialized. The socializing structures in a society and what we refer to
as agents of socialization. It is within the various agents of socialization that appropriate
components of training and learning are brought together to ensure that personalities, such as
those of children, are trained basically, intellectually, technically, and in many other ways, to
perform adequately in the role structures of the adult society. The main agents of socialization
include:

1. The family
2. The school
3. The peer group
4. The church
5. The mass media
There are other structures in a society let me play the roles of socializing agents. Examples of
those are clubs, organisation groups and the community itself. In this lecture however, we shall
only discuss the five listed above.

OBJECTIVES
At the end of this lecture, you should be able to:
 1. Name and discuss the agents of socialization;
2. describe the functions of agents of socialization and evaluate their importance to
education.

The family as a socializing agent

In the initial stages of a newly born child, the mother, the father, brother and sisters, and finally
other relatives, an orphan the first people he has contact with. For most of the first few years of a
child's life, my child is among and around these people and is therefore totally dependent on
them for his many psychological, physical and other needs. These needs are essential features for
the socialization of a child in the family. For this reason, the family is referred to as the primary
socializing agent. That is, it is within family relationships that the child learns his first lesson in
social living, social roles, social behaviour and the general way of Life of his society. It is within
the family that the child takes the first major step in the process of socialization.

As a primary socializing agent the family has one major educational function. This function is
related to the life of the socializee. The family provides the socializee with initial education.
Using the family as his reference group the socializee learns some patterns of behaviour,
perceives some realities and acquires habits of thinking which are features of his family and the
wider society. In this way the family teaches the socializee the culture and subculture to which
he belongs.

For example, a child who is born into a pastoralist family learns to behave in a different way
someone born in an agricultural family. Similarly, a child born into a Muslim family learns to
behave differently from one born into a Christian family. In the wider context the Kenyan child
learns values, norms, behaviour and culture which are distinctly Kenyan. It is important to
remember however, that most of the learning that goes on in the family is informal in the sense
that it occurs without the parents or other members of the family being consciously aware that
they are teaching. As the child grows up, he joins the school which becomes another major
socializing agent in his life.

The school as a socializing agent

At the age of five or six the child enters school to start another long period of socializing leading
towards at time when he will become an adult member of his society. During this time, the
school shares the role of socializer of the child with the family. However, while the family does
it's socialized in an informal manner, the school uses both formal and informal approaches in its
socializing functions.

How does the school fulfill its role as an informal socializing agent?
Formally, the school provides the child with the formal knowledge of the basic intellectual skills
such as Reading, writing, verbal expression, quantitative and other cognitive abilities. Through
the school curriculum, the socializee learns about the history, the technology, the skills and other
areas of knowledge pertaining to the cultural achievement of his society. In addition, the school
provides the socializee with opportunities to acquire the social and vocational abilities which are
necessary to make him a socially useful and economically productive member of the society.
Informally, the school Enables the child to learn a host of other social roles and skills which are
also important in his overall development as a member of the society. For example, she learns
how to behave towards his playmates and those older than him. That is, she learns how to share
things and ideas, compete responsibly, cooperate, relate well and obey rules within his age
group. Learning these values will eventually lead him to become respectful to his elders, his
acquaintances or equals, and absorb the culture of his wider society.

In order to enable it to fulfill its role as a socializing agent and thus benefit the socializee, the
school has important socializing features period for example, there are adult teachers. These
provide the major part of the child's formal learning. . Teachers as adults, are accepted as being
more socialized or educated then the school children. Because of this, they are considered
suitable to socializing the school children according to the needs of the adult world. The school
also has other children, and because they come from different families, backgrounds and
neighborhoods, the children constitute the source of a variety of views, interests, expressions,
habits and influences which are exchanged between and learnt by the children. The work of the
school in this case is to intercept and change or modify best aspects which may not be accepted
by or acceptable to the community. At the same time, those aspect of training which are
meaningful in the children's socializing are encouraged. This kind of informal learning occurs
mainly within the peer group setting. The peer group that affects the socialization process of
course both in school and in a child's neighborhood.

The peer group as a socializing agent

The peer group is comprised of people within the same age group. It is a recognisable agent of
socialization, whether among adults growing children. Growing children living in the same
neighborhood or attending the same school orphan associates or play with us of their age and
thus form peer groups. In the school, however, peer groups are usually formed by children in the
same class. In the classroom, children continually interact with each other as equals. This
equality helps them identify with the classroom group which is an important feature of peer
group socialization in the school.

In his peer group, the child learns adult values such as cooperation, responsibility, following
rules, honesty, fairplay in competition, and many other good habits. This values are learnt
through children’s play acting and games; for example hide and seek and teach the children the
value of being honest. The children imitate the roles of husbands and wives and thus learn
responsibility. Although these values appear meaningful to the children only at play level, they
nevertheless become increasingly the basis of adult behaviour. In addition, the peer groups help
the children to learn their sex roles and it also acts as a source of information for its members. In
general, therefore, the peer group teachers the child and thus reinforces both the family and the
school in their socializing roles in society.

Mass media as a socializing agent

By mass media we mean search organs of communication and amusement such as television,
radio, motion pictures, magazines and newspapers. This are important in socializing all of us in
various ways. Today, mass media is assuming great importance in socializing of children. For
example, children are now more aware of the world and national affairs then children of past
years. They learn from mass media certain characters, attitudes, behaviours and values that exist
in the society. They learn new dances and the use of certain commercial products; no doubt, they
also become aware of new issues pertaining to farming, biases, social life, language and so on,
when search issues are presented, analysed, as discussed by mass media organs. In the end,
children come to view the world, the nation or society in the light of what they see, learn and
read in the media organs.

Religious institutions as socializing agents

Apart from the family, the school and peer groups, other important agents of socialization are
religious institutions. The role of the religious institution is mainly to perpetuate the morals,
beliefs and practices accepted in the respective religious groups. In this respect, the role of
religion or religious institutions in the socializing process is not so different from that of the
family or the school.

Among the major functions of these institutions is teaching of moral or good behaviour to
children. Preaching is usually done by pastors, Sunday school teachers or Madras teachers. In
Sunday school, for instance, children as early as in the oedipal stage are taught that God is
watching over them. They are taught to respect and obey their parents and teachers. In addition,
pastors and Sunday school teachers provide models for character development to the children.
Ultimately, these teachings and models rainforest or complement the role of the family, the
school, and the peer groups with regard to socializing children in the society.

SUMMARY
In this lecture five important agents of socialization have been named. They are: the family, in
the school, the peer group, the mass media and religion. For each agent, certain features were
presented. For instance, in the family the mother, father, sisters, Brothers and other relatives are
important features to enable the family to be a primary socializing agent. In the school, the
presence of school and other children is a similarly important feature for the school to be a
socializing agent. Functions which are prominent in each of the socializing agents were
discussed.

ACTIVITY
1. What are the major agents of socialization and how did they influence the life of a child?
 LECTURE 7
MEANING AND COMPONENTS OF CULTURE
INTRODUCTION
What is culture? Generally speaking, the term culture refers to the sum total of a people's way of
life. This includes the way we think, act and feel. Culture may be expressed through such
practices as religion, language, custom, and art. It can also be expressed through material
association such as houses, clothes and tools.

OBJECTIVES
By the end of this lecture you should be able to:
1. Discuss the various meanings of the term culture;
2. Critical examine the three components of cultural change;
3. Classify culture into its component parts.
Our culture is the way we eat, sleep, wash our hands, dress, work, and the way we meet
strangers. When many people speak of culture,the tendency is to focus on its aesthetic aspects
such as art, music, drama and literature. However sociologists use the term culture more broadly
to refer to all the ways of life that have been evolved by men in a particular society. This
includes the language, technology, laws, customs, beliefs, and moral standards of a society. A
person is thus born into a given society and learns the culture of that society. There is a tendency
for them to refer to their culture as the best. This kind of behaviour is known as ethnocentrism. It
is the tendency to centre attention on one's own ethnic group. Tribalism and racism are due to
this tendency. They are a result of narrow-mindedness. Such feelings are generally found among
people whose exposure to other environments is severely limited or totally inadequate. for
example the system of apartheid in South Africa was to a large extent based on ignorance. It
rested on the assumption that the race or the colour of a person is the sole determinant of a man's
rights to participate in the life of his country. In this case being white implied superiority and
dominance and being black annotated inferiority and subordination. This is an indication that
racism as practiced in South Africa and elsewhere is based on ignorance and prejudice. Many of
the white people in South Africa live in isolated and limited environments where they have little
contact with black people. Their views about black people and therefore tended to be distorted
because of the narrow base from which they operate. We must recognise the fact that societies
are unique and so the culture must in turn be unique to the particular society. We must not judge
one society as weak or inferior just because their particular ways of life are different from ours.
instead we must strive to understand the internal Dynamics operating in a given society. It
becomes vital to recognise that societies have different cultures. for example all societies have
some form of marriage and family life,but some practice polygamy while others practice
monogamy. A culture is distinguished by the society's special type of response to the problems
which are common to all human beings. For example all men gets hungry and must eat. But
what’s one it is partly due to his culture. In Western Kenya, eating maize and beans is considered
like having a snack. It is not a heavy meal. However, a student from central province who
happens to go to school in western province and get surprised to find that he will be served with
meals and beans for breakfast, ten o’clock tea and four o’clock tea. "ugali” or maize meal is
considered to be the only type of meal that can be substantial enough for lunch or supper. Thus
while a large variety of behaviour exists in every culture,the general or common form of
behaviour will tend to vary from one society to another. Whereas Christians eat pork and beef
and drink milk, the Chinese dislike milk, the Hindus don't eat beef and the Muslims don't eat
pork.

Furthermore, we can discuss the term culture from two perspectives. That is, material culture and
non-material culture.
a) Material culture-this is expressed by the objects used such as structures, homes, dress,
paintings and cars.thus when the British, Japanese and Germans talk of their own models
of cars,they are expressing an aspect of their material culture.
b) Non-material culture- this refers to the value system, mode of thinking, language,
religion and any other forms of expression.
However there are cases when the term culture is used to refer to civilization period and this is
because the term culture is derived from the German word "Kultur” which means civilization. it
is within this framework that the term culture is used to refer to advanced products of civilization
such as literature, art, and philosophy. This is why there is a tendency in some circles to describe
educated people as cultural people as distinguished from the uncultured, meaning uneducated.
However, in this discussion,we are concerned with culture as a composite all that is passed down
by human beings.

CULTURAL CHANGE
We can also note that culture is constant, yet always changing. It is constant in that some of its
elements such as language and law can remain unchanged for a considerable period of time.
Anthropologists have identified three aspects of cultural change. We shall look at this briefly.

1. Origination
This is the discovery or invention of new elements within a culture. This is the kind of changes
that is necessitated within a culture because of certain external dynamics such as change of the
environment or the need to respond to certain challenges. For example, in traditional African
society, whenever there was a new kind of disease, certain herbs would be identified to deal with
a problem.

2. Diffusion
This is the borrowing of new elements from other cultures. The English language has borrowed
words from other cultures and ‘Incorporated ‘them as part of the English language. As we
pointed out earlier, the term Archer has been borrowed from the German term “Kultur” . In
Kenya, the mass media has been responsible for introducing certain aspects of Western culture
such as music and food. These have been incorporated as part and parcel of our culture. There's
nothing wrong with boring certain elements of other cultures and introducing them into our own.
Every dynamic society does that . One problem with some African societies has been the
tendency to borrow foreign cultural elements at the expense of their own. For example glorifying
western food and looking down on our own types of foodstuffs. Such deviations have been
attributed to such factors as colonialism. The colonialists were convinced that Africans were
“inferior”. One of the major goals of education in Kenya is to correct this type of misconception.

3. Reinterpretation
This is my modification of an existing element to field fresh circumstances in a society. For
example a country may modify its existing educational system to adapt to new situations in
Kenya the present 8-4-4 system of education is an attempt to transform an academic type of
education into a practical one.

The term cultural lag is normally used to refer to the tendency of some areas of culture to change
more faster than others for example, in Kenya some of the communities evolve at a slower pace
than other communities.

The content of culture

let us now look at how sociology ste's have analysed culture into its various components.
Speech: which includes languages and written system. For example we can distinguish between
Arabic, Greek and Chinese alphabets and system of writing.
Material traits: these include food habits, types of shelter used, dress, utensils and weapons.
Art: includes carvings, paintings, music and drawings.
Mythology and scientific knowledge: these include both myths and scientific discoveries.
Religious practices: includes rituals, treatment of the sick, handling of the Dead etc.
Family and social practices: includes customs related to marriage, inheritance, methods of
establishing relationships.
Property: standards of value, exchange and trade.
Government: political and feducial forms
Warfare.
Thus a lot of things we do are culturally conditioned. Culture is not just talking about traditions;
it also involves looking at our whole set of values in a changing sense. A culture gives a
particular society a form of identity. It is because of this that many societies have come to
recognise that culture is too important a thing to be left to chance. Many societies have tried to
organise and selectively transmitted to The Young ones their cultural values. Education is one of
the most important agencies in the process of cultural transmission. Other agencies include the
church, peer groups, mass media, and the family. In the second lecture on the same topic we are
going to talk more about the role of education in culture. We shall examine in some considerable
detail the role of education in the process of cultural transmission.

Summary
In this lecture,we have defined culture as a sum total of the elements of a people's way of life,
that have evolved in the society. The term is not just restricted to mean traditional activities as
people tend to think. A culture serves as a society as a form of identity. It is wrong to judge a
particular society as weak or inferior simply because it's culture is different from one’s own.
Each society has its own internal dynamics that make it unique. Some aspects of culture such as
law,language are constant in that they can remain unchanged for a considerable period of time,
while I dislike dress, music can change frequently. Many societies have come to recognise that
and as such, institutions are schools have been established to deliberately and selectively transmit
the values that are considered important.

QUESTIONS AND ACTIVITIES.

1. Define the term culture with specific examples taken from your society.
2. Distinguish between material and non-material culture.
3. Anthropologists have identified three aspects of cultural change. Using specific
examples, discuss these aspects.
4. With close reference to the content of culture discussed in this lecture, give an example of
each cultural content found in your society.
LECTURE 8
THE USE OF EDUCATION IN CULTURAL TRANSMISSION
INTRODUCTION
The term "education” is derived from the Latin word “educare” which means to bring up a child.
Thus, broadly speaking, education includes every process,except the genetic one that helps to
form a person’s mind, character or physical activities. Within this framework education can be
seen as a lifelong process, we must learn new ways of thought and action with very major
changes in our lives. Specifically, education is the inculcation in each generation of certain
knowledge, skills and attitudes by means of institutions such as schools, that have been
deliberately created for that purpose. And this means that education belongs to the process
known as enculturation, whereby a growing person is initiated into the way of Life of his society.

From a historical perspective we can look at education in our society from two points of view,
the informal and formal. Informal education refers to the suspects of the socialization process
which occur outside the formal School. In this include child rearing practices that are carried out
primarily by the family.

The formal aspects are those we call schooling. A school is an institution that has been
established by the society to promote knowledge and values in a systematic manner. Schools are
set up by a society to selectively transmit these values and knowledge that a society determines
as appropriate. This is done through the programs that are outlined in the curriculum. The
curriculum can be seen as a plant documents through which the value of a given society are
transmitted in a school setting. Each society tries to supervise the education of its members. It is
through the school and that a society provides specialised training for its young members.
 Education is also concerned with personality. Personality basically refers to a physical, mental,
emotional and spiritual characteristics of a person. Though the environment Shapes personality,
we are only concerned with those factors that are determined by the social environment.

OBJECTIVES
By the end of this lecture, you should be able to:
1. Define the term education and distinguish between The informal and formal aspects of
education.
2. Discuss the functions of education.
3. Examine the extent to which education can transmit the cultural values of the society.
4. Analyse the extent to which education is influenced by culture in our society.
5. Discuss the cultural content of the curriculum.

THE ROLE OF EDUCATION IN THE TRANSMISSION OF CULTURE.

One of the primary functions of education is to hand on the cultural values and behaviour
patterns of the traditional society to its younger members. It is through this process that our
society achieves some form of basic social conformity and at the same time and she was that its
traditional modes of life are preserved. This is often referred to as the conservative function of
education. It is conservative in the sense that it is only concerned with transmitting from one
generation to the next the values that exist without fundamental change.

Schools also have another function. That is the creative function. One of the purposes of schools
in society is to develop critical thinking among its members. Our society needs critical and
creative thinkers who can make inventions, discoveries and initiate change. University for
example, is not just an institution where knowledge is transmitted. It is also an institution where
knowledge is created or “discussed”. Within this framework we cannot that education does not
only respond two social changes but it can be a factor that can bring about social change.

CULTURE AND THE SCHOOL CURRICULUM

These values that schools transmitted can be seen as the culture of the society. It is culture that
forms in the content of socialisation and education. In the case of schools culture is the
curriculum. It is within this line of thought that sociologists I have made the following
observations about culture and the curriculum:

1. Society must provide its members with the tools of communication. The teaching of
language in schools is crucial for socialisation and education.
2. Society must provide its members with the tools for feeding themselves and improving
the condition of living. Hence the necessity for teaching of such disciplines as agriculture
sciences, vocational and technological courses.
3. Society must teach its members aesthetic values. This necessitates the teaching of the
arts, and acquiring the meaning of communicating feelings.
4. Society must prepare its members to be Masters of their own physical environment.
Hence the teaching of geography and the natural sciences.
5. Society must provide religious education to meet the spiritual needs of its members.
 6. Society must prepare its members to live under acceptable social conditions with other
members. Hence the need for teaching of subjects like history, sociology and
anthropology.
7. Society must produce people you can improve on the living physical environment. That is
why there is need to provide courses in building and surveying.
8. Society must regulate itself in order to maintain it's true existence. Which can do it
through good government and the study of the procedures of social control.
9. Society must prepare its members to fight against external forces and sometimes internal
forces that may threaten its continued existence-hence the study of military science.
The process of cultural transmission is not easy. Sometimes, society places a lot of demand on
the schools,some of which cannot be accomplished by the schools. Furthermore, we should note
that in the process of cultural transmission schools compete with other transmission agencies
such as the peer groups, churches, and mass media including radio, cinema and television. Some
of these agencies can command a more powerful influence on the pupils than the schools.

SUMMARY
We have noted that education includes every process, except the solely genetic, that helps to
form a person's mind, character, or physical development. This can be done informally or
formerly. And the informal aspects include the socialization processes that occur outside the
formal school system. The formal aspects are the ones we refer to as schooling. A school is a
social institution that has been set up by society to selectively transmit those values that the
society considers to be appropriate. The curriculum is the document that outlines these social
values. In addition to transmitting existing knowledge, schools also have a responsibility to
create or "discover” new knowledge.

ACTIVITIES
1. Distinguish between the informal and formal aspects of education

a. Look at the section dealing with cultural and the school curriculum. Specifically point out
some of the things that are taught in the secondary school curriculum.
b. How effectively do the schools transmit this material?

REFERENCE
George F. Kneller education and anthropology: an introduction.
John Wiley and Sons New York 1966
Samuel Koening, sociology and introduction to the science of society
Barua and Noble Books, London 1968
A.K.C. Ottaway Education and society and introduction to the sociology of education. Routledge
and Kegan Paul London 1970.
Lawrence Stenhou Education and Culture Nelson
London 1971
Ezewe Edward, Sociology of Education, London, longman 1983
 LECTURE 9
SOCIAL STRATIFICATION AND EDUCATION
INTRODUCTION
It has been suggested that education is the mirror of social realities. That means that if a society
is highly stratified, the same will be reflected in the educational structure. In other words are
highly stratified educational system is a product of a highly stratified society. In order to explore
these relationships, let us define some of the key concepts that relate to stratification.

OBJECTIVES
By the end of the lecture, you should be able to:
1. Demonstrate an understanding of social structure and social stratification.
2. Discuss the nature of classes in Africa
3. Critically examine the nature of social mobility.
4. Discuss the role of education in hindering and fostering social mobility in our society
5. Examine the relationship between education and social stratification in Kenya.

SOCIAL STRUCTURE
A structure can be seen as an ordered arrangement of various segments or parts that are put
together to form one single whole. A society can be seen as a composition of several groups of
people such as priests, teachers, farmers, students, doctors, lawyers etc all functioning for the
common good of that society. It is these social groups that constitute what sociologists term as a
social structure.
SOCIAL STRATIFICATION
Social stratification refers to the arrangement love these members of a society (priests, teachers,
farmers, traders etc) into categories and groups based on superiority and inferiority in terms of a
specific criterion. The most common criterion used is to judge people in terms of their wealth.
The term stratification is an analogy from geology. In geology strata-plural form is stratum-
refers to the way layers of rock are laid on top of each other. When we refer to society, each
layer can be called a class.

SOCIAL CLASS
A social class can be defined as a group of people who occupy a specific position in relation to
the means of production whose members enjoy as a consequence, comparable income and
wealth, social prestige and political power.

According to Karl Marx, a social class consists of an aggregate of people who stand in the same
relationship to the means of production for example, land, factories and mines. The most
important criterion for determining search relationship is the issue of ownership and control of
the means of production. A class consists of a group of people who share the same relationship to
the means of production and capacity to engage in political struggle. This is because during the
time of Karl Marx, society was seen as dichotomy whereby the owners of the means of
production were not the ones who provided labour. However, critics of Karl Marx point out that
these days the ownership of industry is widely dispersed among stockholders who made the
foreigners. Sometimes they host government has some ownership with trade union representative
workers. Furthermore, those who run the industries and not the owners but managers who sell
their labour as do ordinary workers.
Another sociologist Max Weber, a German, identify the three elements of social stratification.
And these are:
1. Wealth - which covers income and capital
2. Prestige - refers to the extent to which a person is looked up to or looked down upon,
regarded as the sort of person to be admired or treated with contempt.
3. Power - refers to the extent to which a person can influence or command the actions of
others.

CLASS IDENTIFICATION
In general, we can say that there are a number of factors which we should take into consideration
when determining the social class of an individual. These are:
1. The amount of money earned and the wealth possessed
2. The type of job and the status that goes with it
3. The degree of influence and power over other people implied in the job
4. Education
5. Style of living
6. Attitudes to life
It is on the basis of these factors that society differentiates between social rules. Some rules and
positions are regarded more highly than others. Those occupations can then be classified in terms
of a hierarchy of classes:
 a. Upper, middle and lower classes; or
b. Working, lower-middle, upper middle and upper classes; or
c. Blue and white colar classes (that is, manual and non manual workers)
Other people distinguish between skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled classes in the blue collar
classes. One of the distinguishing factors between classes is the inequality. The occupation with
the highest salaries are usually those with the best working conditions, the best chances of
promotion or the greatest opportunity for personal initiative.

In Kenya the gap between the high and low income groups is extreme. It is not unusual to find a
top civil servant or company executive earning 30 to 40 times as much as his office messenger.
This inequalities tend to intensify competition for jobs and make educational success a matter of
great concern. This is because educational inequalities are a reflection of social and economic
inequalities between classes.

SOCIAL MORALITY
Social mobility is the process whereby individuals can move up or down the social scale. In
cases where individuals move from one class or standing to another-usually from the lower to the
middle or middle to the upper - this movement is known as vertical mobility. Where individuals
move within the same class, such movement is known as horizontal mobility. In cases where
individuals move from a higher class to a lower one, this is known as downward mobility.

In Kenya individuals occupying different statuses, each of which has a number of roles attached
to it which each status occupier must play in the society. This statuses can be a the ascribed or
achieved. An ascribed status is one that is occupied by an individual as a result of his personal
efforts in society. Our society combines both statuses. The achieved status is one and that is most
dominant. And this is because a great majority of our people who now occupy high statuses have
come from very poor homes. They have achieved these high statuses because of their own
personal determination for success.

Due to these differences one finds that our society is becoming increasingly more stratified. We
have now got to A point where one finds that the society is divided into a small class of wealthy
people and a large class of people who are very poor. This means that we are not only faced with
the problem of creating wealth but also the problem of narrowing the gap between those who
possess the wealth and those who do not have it. This situation is reflected in the educational
area where there are few high-cost schools for the rich that are well equipped with facilities and
many low cost schools for the rest of the population that are poorly equipped. A further concern
is that the examination system tends to favour those who attend the high-cost schools at the
expense of the majority who go to the poor low-cost schools. Through this kind of setup, the
educational system perpetuates social inequalities. Kenneth Blakemore and Brian Cooksey in
their book “A sociology of education for Africa” have identified several kinds of educational
inequalities.

1. Not and children have the same chances of going to school. This is termed as unequal
access to schooling.
 2. There are wide differences in performance between children. Some dropout before
completing primary School. Artist have to repeat classes; the majority of candidates fail
the entrance examinations.
3. Within the educational system there are different streams which can be followed leading
to a variety of qualifications and possible occupations. These streams maybe officially
equal but are generally considered to be unequal. For example, in Africa, technical
education is generally considered to be inferior to academic education.
4. Schools and colleges which are theoretically equal (following the same syllabus and
leading to the same qualifications) vary widely in status, quality and the market value of
the qualifications obtained. Thus private schools may be of a higher or lower quality that
government schools; places in high status schools will be more difficult to obtain than
places in low status schools, and the qualifications earned from the bestknown schools,
colleges and universities may be more marketable them the same qualifications earned
elsewhere.
Let us briefly examine how formal education is related to various social classes.

LOWER CLASS
A lot of children in this group remain there for the rest of their lives,even in cases where
education may be said to be free. In any case even if students do not pay fees, there are other
financial demands by the schools such as those for uniforms, building and activity funds which I
place a big burden on their parents. At home with children may find problems getting adequate
food and the environment for study maybe poor due to lack of such facilities as a quiet room for
study, lighting and books.

Secondly, one finds that in such homes, there are few adult models of success attained through
education for the child to emulate.
Thirdly most parents in this group are illiterate. As a result, they did not see the value of
education. They may want to get their children engaged in household duties such as cooking,
looking after cattle, milking, babysitting, etc rather than studying or engaging in other
intellectual activities.

Having said this, we should be aware that these are basically generalizations. on the whole a
great majority on our Kenyan people who are now members of high socioeconomic status come
from poor homes. It is through their own personal efforts that they have managed to get to their
higher socioeconomic status. Factors like personal determination, encouragement in school, the
community's belief in education as the key to success, the organisation of the school and the
desire to emulate those personalities in the society who have succeeded because of education
were the forces behind the success of these people.

MIDDLE CLASS
In many societies, this is the social class level that is most highly mobile. This is because it is the
group that uses education as a means of achieving a higher social class standing. Education is
basically a means of occupational preparation.
The parents in this group 8 people who have attained a substantial level of education and are
aware of the advantages of education. For such parents there is never any question whether or
not the children will be educated but only the question of where and how the education will be
financed. This is because the middle-class parents have the resources to meet and the educational
demands of their children.

UPPER CLASS
For these people, education is not seen as a means of social mobility. This is because of the fact
that they are already in the upper class. Education is basically used buy them as a means of
solidifying this social class standing. The upper class lays an emphasis on where one has gone to
school rather than how much education one has received. The important function of education is
seen in terms of the broader social preparation that the young person has received in view of the
portion of his social class. Education then prepares the upper-class people through selected
institutions to fit into the upper-class culture.

It is therefore important for the teacher to recognize these differences among families and
understand how they interact with school education. Children from hi socio-economic homes
will obviously come to school with a social orientation different from the ones who come from
lower socio-economic backgrounds.

In general we can note that the socioeconomic status effects school education in several ways:
The parentsfrom high socioeconomic status homes send their children to school earlier than
those of lower socioeconomic status.
1. The provision of books and other educational materials varies from group to group.
2. Those from high-status homes find places in the best schools.
3. Encouragement in schools may be given at different levels.
4. Intown homes English is their home as well as school language.
5. Academic and job aspirations are created by middle class children-where by children of
high socioeconomic status aspire to highly-rated professions.

SUMMARY
We have observed that there are close links between education and social stratification in Kenya.
The nature of these social stratification tends to be reflected in the educational structure. It is
because of such patterns that one finds that there are high cost, middle cost and low-cost schools
in our society. Education in our society is a mirror of those social realities. Attendance at schools
is based on economic status. Those with high income will obviously be able to afford to send
their children to the better equipped high-cost schools whereas those with low income can only
afford the low cost and poorly equipped schools. Such factors keep the poor in a disadvantaged
position. This is due to the fact that because of the links between education and the economy, the
Kenyan society is becoming increasingly stratified.

ACTIVITIES
1. Pay a visit to two schools, one high cost,and the other a low cost one. What do you notice
about the differences between the schools in terms of;
a. The teachers
b. The students
c. The facilities?
2. Identify some of the major factors that can contribute to good performance in
examinations in this country.
 3 What factors would you take into consideration in determining the social class standing
of an individual?

SAMPLE REVISION QUESTIONS

PAPER 1
Q1.
a) Give the definition of sociology
(4 marks)
b) Discuss the importance of studying sociology to a teacher
trainee (20 marks)
Q2.
a) Describe the consensus theory.
(3 marks)
 b) Explain the relevance of consensus theory to education
(20 marks)
Q3.
a) Define social organization
(3 marks)
b) Show how the school qualifies as a social organization
(20 marks)
Q4.
a) Define a profession (3
marks)
b) Describe the characteristics of a profession
(12 marks)
c) Identify the challenges teaching qualifying as a profession
(8 marks)
Q5.
a) Define culture (3
marks)
b) Discuss how education transmits culture
(20 marks)
MARKING SCHEME

a. Give the definition of sociology

 The science of society
 A study of social relationships between individuals in
collections or groups
 A study of various interactions, activities, associations,
conflicts, roles and other social phenomena in a society
 A study of social groups which are found in the society,
such as the church, the school etc.
b. Reasons why sociology of education is important to
teacher trainees
 It helps our teacher to understand the relationship between
a child's background and effect on performance
 To understand the influence of the neighborhood on the
school
 Understand the influence of society and issues like salary
 To communicate to learners effectively
 Understand influence of social class on performance
 Understand how gender issues affects education
 Understand culture and its influences an education and vis a
vis
 To understand the relationship between teachers and
students
 Helps the teacher to understand his/her role the teaching
profession and its status in society.
 To understand the goals of education and variables that
influence educational processes and outcomes
 Help the teacher in classroom management
 Be able to analyse education and it's social use
 Understand learning and discipline that is conducive to
academic learning
Q2.
a. Define the term
i. Consensus theory
 It is a theory that seeks to account for order in society i.e.,
how social structures and organisations are integrated and
maintained.
 It is also referred to as structural functionalism
 Society as made up of different parts performing
independently but make up a whole
 Most members of society share the same values and norms
through consensus
 A society cannot survive unless there is consensus among
the members on the lifestyle, values, customs and education
to transmit the values to the young generation.
 The different parts which includes schools, church etc. work
in agreements to make up an integrated society. (3 marks)
b. Relevance of consensus theory in education
 Social life involves commitment, a virtue taught in
educational institutions. It is pointed out that cooperation is
a phenomenon that accounts for social stability.
 Societies are of necessity, cohesive and education
contributes to national cohesion.
 Social life depends on solidarity and teachers cooperate with
government and religious leaders for example, to promote
values such as respect and obedience.
 The aim of education is to produce experts in different Fields
for growth of the society.
 There is consensus that those students who do well proceed
for higher education and good professions to assist the
society
 Those who perform poorly do so due to laziness and should
be directed to less prestigious professions.
 Society recognises legitimate authority, a value emphasized
in schools.
 In this connection consensus theorists argue that’s the long
as the leaders and the led share the same values, and there
should be little political conflict, since there is agreement on
the goal of education.
 Social systems are integrated in the society through its
members and constituent organisations (the school thing
one of the social organisations) adapt itself to the
environment, attains its goals, integrate new members into
the functioning whole, and manages tensions as they arise.
Q3.
a. Define Social Organization.
 A social organization is defined as a social system that
carries out or pursues specific tasks and objectives for which
it is intended and structured. Since different organisations
are meant to fulfill different objectives they are structured
differently.
 A social organisation has in its makeup, a group of people
who are frequently interacting with each other in their needs
to perform the organisational objectives
 A typical organisation has formal structures, a system
relationship, a hierarchical order, a power or authority
structure. (3 Marks)

b. To show how the school could be classified as a social

organisation
Any social organisation has the following characteristics and the
school has all of them:
 It has been formally established for the explicit purpose of
achieving certain goals.
 There is a clear division of labour
 It has a formally instituted pattern of authority (hierarchy)
and official body of rules and procedures which are intended
to achieve its specific goals.
 For an organisation to attain its goals all members have to
participate actively in the activities of the organisation.
 The positions held are based on merit based on production
of certification
 Employment is on permanent terms for the professionally
qualified members
 There are networks of informal relations and unofficial norms
which arise out of the social interaction of individuals and
groups working together within the formal structure.
 Presence of human beings; teachers, students, support staff
etc.
 Rules and regulations to govern relations as the schools
work to attain set goals.
Q4.
a. Define a profession (2marks)
A unique and rational humane activity that promotes the welfare
of society-the same is possible after a long period of specialized
training of the practitioner.
b. To discuss the characteristics of a profession.
 A long period of training
 A strict code of ethics
 Autonomy
 High remuneration
 Prestige
 Specialization
 Unique language
 Board of operation
 Interest of clients
 Generates in service growth
 Essential social service
c. Challenges of teaching as a profession
 Varied training periods
 Use of untrained teachers
 Poor remuneration
 Public attitude
 Low status
 Lack of autonomy
Q5.
a. To define culture
 Culture is the sum total of a people’s way of life.
 It includes the way we think, act and feel
 It is expressed through practices such as religion, language,
customs and art. It can also be expressed through material
associations such as houses, clothes etc.
 It can also be expressed through non material association
such as music, drama, lifestyle, fine arts, etc.
(2 marks)
b. To discuss the components of culture
 Speech; which includes language and writing system
 Material traits; which include good habits, types of shelter,
dress, utensils, weapons etc.
 Art; includes carvings, paintings, music, drawing
 Mythology and scientific knowledge; which includes both
myths and scientific discoveries.
 Religious practices; includes rituals, treatment of the sick,
the dead, etc.
 Family and social practices; includes customs related to
marriage, inheritance, methods of establishing relationships
 Property; standard of value, exchange and trade.
 Government; political and judicial forms
 Warfare; recruitment and people
c. To examine how education can transmit culture
The school therefore transmits culture through its formal and
informal curriculum and transmits the three aspects of culture
in the various aspects of the curriculum, namely
 Inductive
 Aesthetic and
 Control aspects
Through subjects taught, the school transmits certain values.
1. Society must provide its members with the tours of
communication. The teaching of language enables people to
acquire speech and be able to communicate with one
another.
2. Society must provide its members with the tools for feeding
themselves and improving their conditions of living. Hence
the necessity for teaching of such disciplines as agriculture
sciences, vocational and technological courses.
3. Society must teach its members aesthetic values. This
necessitates the teaching of the arts, poetry, music, and
acquiring the meaning of communicating feelings.
4. Society must prepare its members to be the masters of their
own physical environment. The society has to teach its
members skills related to material culture. Subjects like
 geography, agriculture, physical sciences, and vocational
studies are taught in school.
5. Society must provide religious education to meet the
spiritual needs of its members. Moral education is taught
through subjects like religion, social education, and ethics
and also by use of examples and teachers as models. It
provides the control aspect of culture.
6. Society must prepare its members to live under acceptable
social conditions with other members. Hence the need for
subjects like history, sociology and anthropology. They also
provide control aspects of culture.
7. Society must produce people who can improve on the living
physical environment. That is why there is a need to provide
courses in building and surveying.
8. Society must regulate itself in order to maintain its
continued existence. It can do it through good governance
and the study of the procedures for social control.
9. Society must prepare its members to fight against external
forces and sometimes internal forces that may threaten its
continued existence, hence the study of military science.
10. Informally, schools transmit culture through games, sports,
drama and music festivals. Students also learn from their
peer groups.
We should note that in the process of cultural transmission
schools compete with each other transmission agencies such
as the peer groups, church, radio, cinema and television.
Some of these agencies can command a more powerful
influence of the pupils than the schools.

SOCIOLOGY OF EDUCATION – QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

1. Relevance of sociology of education
 Sociological perspectives guide us in the understanding the
total realm of education without assumptions.
 Acquaints educators with the nature of existing/possible
socio-educational problems
 School conceptualized as an outgrowth of larger society
 Class interaction is an opportunity for socialization
 Teachers to view themselves as agents of change.
 Social purpose of education from a wider perspective
 Use of research procedures to accumulate knowledge about
education.

a. Tenets of symbolic interactionism theory:

 Social life depends on human beings interacting
 People don’t act individually but negotiate with others.
 Symbols are valuable means of interacting e.g. language,
facial expressions, hand gestures, music, and art.
 In order to communicate, people must interpret the symbols
 Society ought to enable people to internalize and interpret
symbols for a meaningful learning process.
b. Implications on education
 An education system to be based on properly thought out
symbols
 Teachers to be able to transmit symbols to students
 Teachers to constantly evaluate and check whether
symbols were well transmitted
 Students to be taught proper ways of expressing themselves
using recognizable symbols.
 Negative symbols like cruel punishment should be
discouraged.

3. Issues in Sociology of Education

i. Relationship between society and education
 Education is one of the institutions of society
 Other societal institutions e.g. family, government, church
affects schools.
 If they are weak, education fails and vice versa.
ii. Functions and contributions of education.
 Positive function e.g. socio integration, employment skills
 Negative contribution e.g. social stratification.
iii. Child’s social environment and effects of learning
 If good, child is well balanced and socially well adjusted.
 If bad, he/she is ill-behaved, socially maladjusted and
irresponsible.
iv. School as a social organization
 Group of people
 Specific goals
 Formal structure e.g. Head teacher, Deputy Head teacher,
teachers, prefects
v. Teachers and teaching activities
 Several roles e.g. instructor, guide, counselor, disciplinarian,
role model, evaluator.
 Train/socialize the teacher professionally.

4. Stages in the socialization process

i. Oral stage – baby uses mouth to tell others of his
needs.
 1 to 2 years after birth.
 Learns to control hunger drive depending on Mother's
schedule
 Doesn't distinguish between himself and the mother
ii. Anal stage- learning to control bowel movement
 Through repeated cues, cautious, rewards
 Learns to be a separate entity from mother
 Up to around 3 years
iii. Oedipus latency – 4-6 years
 Realizes they’re being cared for by more than one person
 Tendency to be close to parent of opposite sex
 Socialized to identify with appropriate sex-roles
 Learns to interact with members outside the family e.g.
peers in school.
iv. Adolescence – important body maturing processes.
 Crisis, conflicts and disagreements
 Crave for independence while parents have a role to control
them according to societal morals.
 Socialized to prepare for adulthood
v. Socialization is a lifelong process
 Learning starts at birth and continues throughout life
 We are constantly fitting our behaviour to individual and
social expectations
 E.g. bowel control, hunger control, reading and writing, peer
rules, dress habits, parenthood, new hobby/crafts/job etc.

5. Agents of socialization
i. Family - primary socialization agent/principle socializer
 Mother, father, siblings, caregiver
 Initial education-culture, subculture, informally
 Values, norms and behaviour
 Provide security
*Critique- some parents have abdicated their
responsibilities
Unstable families etc.
ii. School-formally and informally
 Socially useful and economically productive
 Learns good behaviour and obeying rules
 Critique- some pass in exams but remain indisciplined
 Segregation and stratification
iii. Peer group-people within the same age group
 Learns corporation, responsibility, fair play
 Shapes personality
 Self control, emotional support, source of information
*Critique-negative influence e.g. drug abuse
iv. Mass media- TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, internet
 Learn certain manners, attitudes, behaviour and values
 Media informs, educates and entertains.
*Critique- eroding African culture
Pornography, violence, sexual immorality.
v. Religion- perpetuates morals, beliefs and practices.
 Teachers provide models for character development
 Moral backing to rules and laws of society
 Bridge gap between parents and children
  Children learn to work together
*Critique – Religious institution ignore the youth.
Too rigid; - practice corruption and immorality

SOCIOLOGY OF EDUCATION – QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

SECTION A - COMPULSORY
1(a) Contextualize a school setting of your own choice and using
what you understand by the meaning and functions of sociology
of education, discuss the features that would make the school a
subject matter for sociology of education (15 marks).
(b) Discuss FIVE main contributions of the knowledge of
sociology of education to teacher trainees (15 marks).
SECTION B -
2 Mamboleo secondary school has experienced various forms of
deviance among students in the last five years. Supposing you
have been approached by the school principal to assess the
situation and advise the school management on how to solve the
problem, explain how you would use the survey method to collect
the appropriate data and apply cultural transmission theory of
deviance to enable the school management to
understand and solve the problem (20 marks).
3(a) Define social mobility (2 marks)
(b) Using relevant examples from Kenya, describe how education
influences social mobility (8 marks).
(c) Citing relevant example, discuss the extent to which peers
influence socialization of learners in secondary schools (10marks).
4 Discuss the interpretation of the consensus and conflict theorist
on the following educational issues
a) The problem of examination cheating (8marks).
b) Habit of stealing by some students (6marks).
c) Voting by university students to elect their leaders (6marks).
5(a)Discuss FIVE factors that contribute to gender inequality in
our Universities (10marks).
(b)Identify and discuss Five social factors that are likely to affect
the realization of 100% transition of learners from primary to
secondary schools (10marks).

1(a)Features that would make the school a subject matter for

sociology of education
(i) Set goals and objectives
(ii)Characterized with rewards and punishment
(iii)Deals with social beings/ learners
(iv)Hierarchy in leadership
(v)Defined roles and duties
(vi)Dynamism/ characterized by change etc
Any other correct features (2.5 marks x 6pts=15marks)
(b)Contributions of the knowledge of sociology of education to
teacher trainees
(i) Enable the teacher to understand features that qualify the
school as social institution.
(ii) Understand relationship between the school and
society
(iii)Understand causes and remedies of deviant behavior.
(iv)Understand relationship of an individual to the society.
(v)Social class formation.
(vi)Social mobility
Any other correct contribution well explained (2.5 marks x 6points
=15 marks)
2. Research procedure
(i)problem identification
(ii)literature review –i.e. review of relevant files/document
(iii)formulation of hypothesis
(iv)data collection – through interview, questionnaires
 (v)data analysis
(vi)report writing
Cultural transmission theory
Guiding principle is that certain aspects of our culture contributes
to deviance i.e gender, retrogressive values etc

Remedy
Educate learners on the evils of deviance in the school etc.

(2marks x 10points =20marks).

3(a) Social mobility – is the movement of an individual from one

social class to another influenced by factors such as education,
income etc (2marks)
Interrelationships between education and social mobility should
be well discussed and mention of vertical and horizontal mobility
is necessary (2marks x 4points =8 marks).

(b) Extent to which peers influence socialization of learners in

secondary schools i.e.
(i) Positive peer influence
 Games and sports
 Group assignments and home work
 Debates
 Choir teams
 Innovation and research groups etc
(ii) Negative peer influence
 Bullying
 Stealing
 Dishonesty
 Sneaking out of school
 Cheating in examinations

Any other correct justification *Should be well discussed.

(2 marks x 5pts= 10 marks)

4 (a) The problem of examination cheating
consensus conflict

conspiracy pressure- i.e.

from parent/guardian
The interpretations should be well discussed.
(2 marks x 4 points = 8marks)
(b)habits of stealing by some students
Conspiracy
Cooperation
(2 marks x3 points =6marks)
(c)voting by university students
Consensus - cooperation
Conflict - disagreement etc

(2 marks x3 points =6 marks)

The interpretations should be well discussed.

5(a)Causes of gender inequalities in our Universities;

(i) Culture – discrimination, favoritism etc
(ii) social class – lower, middle or upper class
(iii) learner characteristics i.e hard working or not
(iv) religion
(v) family background – poor or rich, etc

The interpretations should be well discussed.

(2 marks x 5 points = 10marks)

(b)factors that are likely to affect the realization of 100%

transition of learners from primary to secondary schools
i. Poor administration
ii. Poor planning by head of schools
iii. Early marriages and pregnancies
iv. Inadequate resources
v. Retrogressive school culture
vi. Failure to comply with the requirements of our
constitution etc
 The interpretations should be well discussed.
(2marks x5points=10marks)

SOCIOLOGY OF EDUCATION – QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

1. a) “Teaching is conceptualized as a profession in Kenya”
Discuss the justification this statement (10 marks)
b) Using appropriate examples define the following concepts
(15 marks)
(i) Social stratification
(ii) Social mobility
(iii) Achieved status
(iv) Society
(v) Social equality
c) Differentiate between the active and passive theories of
socialization (5 marks)
2. Citing relevant examples, discuss the extent to which
education curriculum is influenced by the culture of the
society (20 marks).
3. Discuss TEN features that qualifies Machakos University as a
social institution (20 marks).
4. (a) Using relevant examples, discuss the notions that “a
deviant is born” and “a deviant is made” (10 marks).
(b) “Parents with learners in public schools conceptualize
private schools as
serving the interests of the elites” Discuss this statement
with reference to
provision of facility and resources in schools in Kenya (10
marks).
5 (a) Discuss the effectiveness of any FIVE initiatives being
made by the government of Kenya to achieve equality in the
provision of University education (10 marks).
 (b) Citing relevant examples make a distinction between ‘a
social being’ and
‘social being’ (10 marks)

1. a) Teaching is conceptualized as a profession

Justification
 Involves specialization
 Managed by professional bodies
 Involves appropriate skills
 Demands for commitment
 Guided by code of conduct
 Teachers are registered
 Any other correct justification *Should be well discussed
(2 marks x 5points=10 marks)

 b) Social stratification – grouping individuals into

various layers/classes (3 marks)
 Social mobility – movement of individuals from one
social class to another. Can be vertical or horizontal (3
marks)
 Society – Individual occupying a certain area and have
common characteristics (3 marks)
 Achieved status – is one that is acquired through hard
work. (3 marks)
 Social equality – Treating all members of the society
fairly, distribution of resources free of any
discrimination (3 marks)
c) Active and passive theories of socialization (1mark x 5points
= 5marks)

Active socialization Passive socialization

Direct process between the Indirect between the
socializer and socializee socializer and socializee
Formal i.e takes place in Informal take place at
school etc home, church etc
Quick response Response is slow

2. Education curriculum is influenced by the culture of the

society

Aspect of culture subject/curriculum

Communication/ Language Kiswahili, English
Addition/Counting Mathematics,Economics
Herbal medicines Zoology, Botany,Biology
Beliefs, worship C.R.E,I.R.E
Warfare/security Military Science, Politics,
History
Norms, Virtues/values Ethics, S.E.E
 Any other correct justification *Should be well
discussed.

(2 marks x 10pts=20 marks)

3. Ten features that qualify Machakos University as a social

institution.
 Hierachy of leadership
 Feedback Mechanism
 Incentive
 Set goals/objectives
 Supportive culture
 Generates new ideas etc
  Any other correct justification *Should be well
discussed.

(2 marks x 10pts=20 marks)

4. (a) A deviant is born – is explained by biological theories

 Characterized by inheritance of traits
 Offspring obtain bad habits from their parents etc
A deviant is made – Explained by environmental theories i.e
Structural strain/stress theory;
Build on the Principles that;
 Bad environment imparts bad habits to members of the
society etc
(2marks x 5pts=10 marks)
(b) Private schools serve the interest of the elites/ the rich;
 Private schools have set standards
 High fees
 Special privileges
 Highly motivated learners/teachers
 Well paid teachers etc *points should be well
discussed (2 marks x 5pts=10 marks)

5 (a) Equity – situation in which everyone is treated fairly i.e it has

to do with fair distribution of resources in various regions of a
country.
Equality – is derived from the word equal which means same.
Therefore, equality means having the same rights/ being treated
the same (2 marks x 5pts = 10 marks)
(b) An “asocial being” in the words of Emile Durkheim is an
individual who does not understand the society’s ways of life. May
also imply:
 - not civilized, not cultured, new member in a society etc for
example a form one student in a new school. * should be well
discussed.
‘Social being’ – opposite of the above. * should be well discussed
(2 marks x 5pts = 10 marks)